Mark Kleiman makes a great point here:
The United Blogosphere has spoken: Cory Maye must not die. (Once Atrios agrees with Instapundit, it's fair to say that the sense of the meeting has been taken.)
This is as pure a test of Blogger Power as we're likely to see. As far as I can tell, there's no active dissent on the question in Blogistan. Radley Balko isn't just jumping up and down on the question, he's doing real investigative reporting and getting results. (E.g., the search warrant in the case doesn't mention Cory Maye by name, and the affidavit submitted to obtain the search warrant is about as far short of "probable cause" as it could possibly be: it merely recites that the officer thinks someone might have drugs in that apartment.)
But so far, there is absolutely no mention of the case in any actual newspaper or other non-blog outlet indexed by Google, and as far as I can tell no statement on the case by any actual politician or any organization more powerful than the Innocence Project. If the save-Cory campaign remains confined to cyberspace, then we can confidently predict that its impact on Planet Earth will be negligible.
As he goes on to say, some enterprising politician could score unbelievable points with not only the netroots, but I'd assume the Black community, by turning Maye into a cause celebre. Online, politically plugged in bloggers like Kos and Duncan and Jerome should be bringing it to the attention of their electoral contacts -- time to shake those branches. This is a rare moment where, for a young politician, doing good and doing right intersect. It's a chance to save a life and make a name. It's almost unimaginable to me that no one will take the opportunity. Likely candidates would look to be Feingold, Edwards, and Warner, but I'm open to new faces.
So c'mon folks: get on it.
